ZENDALA DARE 62

Last weekend I held a workshop on colour and techniques. It was great fun as always. I managed to complete one tile. The background was colour wash, then stamped the images. Following that I added the tangles and shaded with colour pencil.

 For this weeks Zendala Dare I used a double pencil to add a string thhrough the design, just for a change.


Tangles: Diva Dance, Copada and Coaster.



Diva Challenge #123

A challenge has been given to us this week by guest blogger Maria Vennekens CZT. It is a challenge we have not done before, so made for interesting creativity. "Can you do a Zentangle without  using existing patterns or tangeleations of them? And what are your experiences while doing so? "

In my first attempt I tried to create shapes derived from realistic things. I was watching a program on the Barrier Reef, so thought there would be good ideas to glean from it. But I disliked the result so much I wouldn't even post it.

I turned the tile over and did a purely abstract design, "one stroke at a time" (Zentangle). How can you let go of something that really works??  I let it just 'develop', as I often do with any of my designs and drawings. I quite liked the simple black and white, but a few parts shouted out for some primary colours, (does your work speak to you?). In my mind I could see the red, yellow and blue making a statement, but then I kept going. The blue (Ultramarine) was too dark and killed the black, so I allowed some tertiary colours wend their way in. I did leave a bit of white as it was there to provide a nice contrast to the vividness of the rest. I first used micron #6 to colour but it was too streaky, then went to Inktense pencils, but they left bits of the paper showing through the colour. Hooray for Prismacolour to the rescue, as I was able to achieve the heavy flat colour I wanted. Mind you, it doesnt look so flat on the screen. Guess I would have to paint in gouache to achieve the proper coverage.

Zendala Dare #61

It continues to rain and rain outside, but that means we can get on with all the inside jobs and not be tempted to be outside in the lovely sunshine as in the Northern Hemisphere!
When I looked at the Zendala Dare for this week I thought it seemed a difficult one, but I began "one stroke at a time" (Zentangle), and continued with the theme of grids of last week in the Diva Challenge. After filling in the shapes, I wanted to contrast all the straight lines with some curves, which I placed in the remaining spaces. I chose to do black, white and a few colours. When completed I was amazed to see a star shape emerge!


Tangles: Black Pearl, Ving and Swirl.

With no zendala last week to create, I chose one I thought I hadn't done and enjoyed filling it in.





Diva Challenge #122..Grid Seeds

Late posting today as I have been away for a few days break. Unfortunately it rained all the way there and every day all day. We drove home today and its fine. Trust. We still managed to enjoy ourselves though, and I was able to do the Diva challenge, although the finish may not be crash hot seeing as the lighting was a bit dim.
I used my tangle Camelia as a starting point and swashed it into an oval shape.

Diva Challenge 121

A new tangle called "Birds on a Wire" is our challenge for this week designed by Mary Kissel.

Zendala Dare #60

I usually enjoy receiving the weekly Dare, but this week found the challenge a little offputting. Erin challenged us to select a previous template which we found difficult to do, or didn't like doing. A challenge is always good because it stretches you to do some problem solving. As I enjoyed all the templates, I thought I'd look back over some I had not completed. I found No 4 a design I definitely did not like, so chose that one to work on. Attacking this challenge head on I used colour and instantly felt better about the design. I used Sakura Jelly Roll pens and shaded with coloured pencils.


Zendala Dare #4




Tangles: Coaster, Hurakan, Hollibaugh, Black Pearl,